


Uprooted

by sluttycrimehat



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:07:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27731245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sluttycrimehat/pseuds/sluttycrimehat
Summary: Sequel toRoots. As time passes, Varian finds himself feeling more and more at home inside of the Great Tree with Hector. All seems well enough, until a certain caravan comes too close for comfort.
Relationships: Hector & Varian (Disney: Tangled)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 78





	Uprooted

**Author's Note:**

> a commissioned second part to Roots for pennumbra over on tumblr!

The Tree is so much more than what Varian had originally perceived. The outside alone had been impressive, but the inside turned out to be absolutely breath-taking. He’s never seen anything like this, and he could have never imagined that a place like this could even really exist. Of course, Hector is quick to assure him that for every beautiful thing there is, there is something just as deadly. Sometimes, they go hand in hand. 

Varian keeps this in mind, but he’s always been a little on the reckless side, the sort to throw caution to the wind. Especially when his curiosity has been piqued. He doesn’t completely ignore Hector’s warnings, because he understands and acknowledges that Hector indeed knows what he’s talking about. This tree is all he’s known for twenty-five or so years, after all. Which is something else that Varian finds himself wondering about from time to time, too. As beautiful and intriguing as this place is, Hector must have been lonely. 

He doesn’t let himself think about that too much or too often. He learned early on that Hector was not one for personal questions. Varian supposes he’ll talk when he’s ready to, if ever. It’s a little disappointing, maybe even a little concerning, but there isn’t much that Varian can do about it. 

The tree itself is as good a distraction as any, though. He never needs to go too far to find something new to study. There’s just so much to it, and he doubts he’ll ever really see it all. He wonders if even Hector has seen it all. Twenty-five years is a long time, but the tree is massive and alive and constantly growing. He does his best, though, and starts to keep a catalogue of his own in journals, filling them with notes and sketches of plants that wouldn’t think twice about killing or eating him if he were to get too close. 

He manages, sometimes, to get closer than he really should and take samples from them. Hector has warned him more than once after catching him in the act not to do this, but Hector doesn’t understand the merits of science, either. He’s probably right, Varian knows this, but at the same time, Varian knows there’s no way Hector could understand where he’s coming from. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but Hector is very much a person that needs to see something to believe it, and what he believes in is often the face value. A shame, really, because there’s so much more to the tree than Hector realizes.

Varian doesn’t have a proper lab here in the tree, but he makes do with what he can. Soon enough, he’s claimed a small section of it for himself, and he does most of his work there. He does his best to keep Hector and his bearcats and rhino at bay, because he knows how dangerous his own experiments can be. And it would turn out that some of the samples he’s collected are actually flammable and ridiculously hard to extinguish. Some are incredibly explosive, but luckily the tree is durable and there’s plenty of places to duck for cover. 

And then, of course, there’s the ruins and the scroll room. Varian stumbled upon it all by complete accident - as he had most of the tree, in all actuality - but the moment he had realized what he was looking at, he was completely taken by it all. Hector doesn’t seem to approve of him studying these, either, but that doesn’t stop Varian in the least. And for what it’s worth, Hector seems to put up less of a fight about the ruins and scrolls than he does about the fauna. 

Varian thinks that’s because Hector thinks the plants are deadlier. 

Hector’s wrong about that. 

\---

Of course, Varian isn’t always left to his own devices. Hector does involve himself some of the time with his new charge. It’s unspoken, but both of them know that they don’t know how long this arrangement will last. The ideal situation is that they can find a way to get Quirin out of the amber sooner rather than later. Hector knows Varian hopes for the best, but what he doesn’t tell the boy is that it’s entirely possible the day may never come at all. 

There’s a small part of Hector that admits to himself that he doesn’t really want to think about that, either. Even if they had gone their separate ways, Quirin meant something to him once upon a time.

Quirin still means something to him, if Hector feels like being begrudgingly honest with himself. 

And he really, at the root of it all, that’s why he’s in this situation now. Even if they can’t free Quirin, at least he’ll have done some good by him by taking care of his son. Right? Though, Hector’s means are questionable at best, and his love is tough most of the time. If Varian is going to stay with him here, the boy is going to have to better himself. Someone who faints at the sight of rabbit’s blood won’t make it for very long out here. If the tree doesn’t get him one day while he’s busy scribbling in a notebook, the vagrants that come too close will. 

So, Hector starts to give him things to do around the tree. They’re small and menial at first, but gradually increase in intensity. Where he may have started just checking parameters or clearing away dead or dying brush, soon he’s tasked with more taxing duties. It takes Varian a little while to get used to hunting, but he picks up on it well enough. 

And to Hector’s surprise, it doesn’t take Varian long at all before he starts to take some initiative. Hector suspects it’s because he doesn’t want to be directly involved in having to chase those that wander too close away, but he supposes he doesn’t mind. Varian starts to set up traps and alarms around the tree, most of which are armed with whatever concoction he could come up with. 

Hector learns the hard way that some of these mixtures can and will glue him in place for hours, while others leave him stinking. After a few too many unfortunate encounters with Varian’s traps, Hector demands a map of where every single one is, and what they do. 

On the off-chance that the traps don’t work, and intruders get too close for comfort, Hector does teach Varian how to fight. He isn’t the best with a sword, but he’s surprisingly good with a bow and arrows. He tries to avoid using them all together, but he will fire warning shots if he needs to. 

Their relationship and dynamic is nowhere near perfect, not yet. But they’ll get there, and it’s better than being alone. 

\---

Hector doesn’t talk a lot about the Dark Kingdom, or The Brotherhood, but Varian wishes he would. Up until he’d met Hector, he had always just thought his father had been a simple farmer and village leader. It never once crossed his mind he could have been some sort of a knight to a crown. There’s so much about his own father, he realizes, he doesn’t know. It’s a little staggering when he really thinks about it, if he’s being honest with himself. But Hector knows, and maybe it’s not in Varian’s best interest to badger him, but he needs to know, too. And Hector has to understand that it’s not really fair to keep this sort of information from him, right? 

He doesn’t know whether it’s eventual sympathy or maybe Hector just doesn’t want to be bothered anymore, but soon enough little hints are being dropped. He never tells Varian exactly what he wants to know when he wants to know it, but it’s better than nothing.

Hector tells him sometimes that his stubbornness reminds him of Quirin when they were younger. He tells him that it’s not surprising Quirin was the one to start a family and settle down, he’d always been the one to keep him and Adira in line. During sparring sessions, sometimes he'll talk about how Quirin had also been reluctant to pick up a sword, but turned out to be one the better swordsmen of the Kingdom. 

He tells him that, with that in mind, there’s hope for him yet. It’s oddly comforting, and probably one of the nicest things Hector has said to him. 

Really, what Hector gives him is the bare minimum, but Varian accepts this. One day, he’ll be able to take all of the pieces Hector has given him and put them together, and really see his father for the first time. 

Knowing all of these things about Quirin now, Varian can’t help but feel just a little bit closer to Hector, to the Dark Kingdom, and to the Brotherhood. It’s hard not to, when this is all he’s known for weeks, and it’s been more than anything Corona has done for him. Sometimes, when he’s high up in the Tree, he’ll catch himself looking away from where Corona lies so, so far away, and toward the ruined Dark Kingdom. He tries to imagine what it must have been like when it was alive and well and bustling with people. 

He imagines, wrong or not, that maybe it was like Corona in its own way. A vibrant kingdom full of happy people, ruled by a king kinder than Frederic. He tries to imagine Quirin, younger and a knight. He tries to imagine how things could have been different.

If not for a few very select circumstances, he thinks, the Dark Kingdom could have been home. 

Sometimes, he thinks, it still could be. 

He doesn’t know how things are going to ultimately turn out, but this is all he has right now. This tree and this rogue knight so hellbent on remaining loyal to his King and his code. It’s a subconscious thing at first, the way he’s drawing the Brotherhood’s symbol in his notebooks, but soon enough it’s a very conscious decision to start incorporating the pattern into his own clothing. 

If Hector notices at all, he doesn’t say anything. But - why would he have anything to say? Varian asks himself. There can’t be anything wrong with feeling more comfortable, more at home, under the weight of the mark, in the shadow of a ruined kingdom. Terrible things happened, but so did great things - he’s sure of that! And while he has no intention to give up on his alchemy, it can’t hurt to start thinking of himself as some sort of a squire to the Brotherhood. 

Can it? 

Quirin would be proud, wouldn’t he? 

Varian does his best to reason with himself that Quirin never told him any of this as it was all a part of starting over. He can understand that. He doesn’t let himself think that there may have been something else keeping Quirin from telling him, and doesn't stop to consider the weight of the sword that had to be laid down. 

\---

There are some things about this way of life, however, that come as a shock to Varian. Hector had made it very clear early on that his purpose was to keep people from getting passed the Tree and into the Dark Kingdom. As far as Varian had known, and seen for himself, this usually just meant scaring intruders away. And if Hector couldn’t do it, his rhinoceros or bearcats certainly could. And not to mention, of course, the traps Varian had laid, too.

It hadn’t crossed Varian’s mind that the more persistent travellers would have to be dealt with on a much more personal level. 

There’s something jarring and terrifying in the moment Varian first sees Hector come back to the Tree smattered with blood. He thinks, at first, that Hector must have been hurt while trying to scare someone away. However, he’s quick to realize that Hector isn’t wounded, and there’s blood dripping from his blade. 

Hector doesn’t seem bothered by it - until he notices Varian’s slack-jawed stare. Even then, it’s as though he’s just become aware of the situation, and is much less bothered by it than Varian obviously is. 

“What happened?” Varian finally manages to ask, and he steps aside, giving Hector a wider berth than what’s really necessary as the man steps by him. 

“Intruders. They came too close, and didn’t seem to understand they weren’t welcomed here,” Hector replies, as though it really is just that simple. Maybe for him, it is. And a cold pit is suddenly forming in Varian’s stomach. 

“I - You didn’t have to - ”

Hector turns a sharp glare on Varian, muting him. “I have to do whatever it takes to keep strangers out of the Dark Kingdom. It’s not up for discussion or debate.” 

And Hector means that, because he walks away and leaves Varian there to process it all. The words, the blood, the heavy meaning behind both. 

He had always known that Hector was dangerous, but it had somehow never crossed his mind just how dangerous he could be. But now Varian knows, and he’s suddenly second-guessing himself, and just how closely he wants to associate with the Brotherhood, if this is what’s become of it. He thinks that this isn’t what they originally stood for, and hopes he’s right about that. It’s hard to see Hector covered in someone else’s blood, but it’s even harder to imagine his father like that. 

\---

After that, whenever Hector leaves to scout, Varian can’t help but feel uneasy about it. He knows - or at least he likes to think that Hector doesn’t always resort to bloodshed, but it’s hard to shake the what ifs and maybes. There’s always that chance he’ll come back covered in blood again, and Varian doesn’t quite know how he’d handle that. He has nothing against protecting this tree and the path to the Dark Kingdom, but there are other ways to keep it all safe. 

He’d given Hector the means, as meager as they may have been. Maybe a few harmless alchemy bombs were nothing really compared to a blade, but they’d do the trick, wouldn’t they? He liked to think so, but a severe doubt gnawed at him that Hector would even consider using them. 

So, it’s a huge relief when Hector returns from scouting relatively clean. He’s a little banged up, bruised and dirty, but there are no telltale signs that anything violent had to happen while he was gone. 

Maybe he shouldn’t ask, but he does anyway. “So… Anything interesting today? Any wayward thugs or ruffians that needed, ah… Better directions?”

“A caravan,” Hector replies, and Varian takes note then and there that something isn’t quite right. Hector seems agitated, angry even, and there’s something else that Varian can’t put his finger on right away. 

“A very determined caravan, at that. Going over a cliff wasn’t enough to stop them,” Hector explains, and Varian feels a conflicted sense of terror and relief. Whoever it had been, at least they hadn’t fallen to their death, but he realizes that also means Hector couldn’t stop them. It means that - 

“They’re here,” Hector says, confirming Varian’s thought and fear all at once. There’s a very real sense of dread that’s coming over him, and he reaches for Hector’s arm as the other tries to walk past him. He tugs hard and holds on tight, enough to make Hector stop and face him. 

“I’m sure we can just scare them out of the tree,” Varian suggests, though really it’s more like a plea. He understands that Hector’s just doing his job, but surely he doesn’t have to fight or kill these people. 

Hector sneers at him, pulling roughly out of the boy’s grasp. “If you can’t handle what needs to be done, then I suggest you stay put while I take care of this.” 

Varian doesn’t have a chance to say anything before Hector walks away, bearcats at his side. A part of him reasons that maybe he should stay put, because he definitely doesn’t want to see what Hector may do to these people. On the other hand, however, he has a chance to maybe intervene and help them before Hector can get to them. 

He follows at a safe distance and downwind from the bearcats. They travel deeper than Varian thinks he’s ever been in the tree before, and there’s no denying that something feels strange here. There are things about the tree he hasn’t learned yet, and a part of him hopes he isn’t about to find them out the hard way. 

From where he is behind Hector, he can barely make out the shape of another person leaning against part of the tree. He doesn’t have the time he wished he’d had to get in between Hector and the intruder; the bearcats are already working them backward and toward Hector. 

“You guys couldn’t take a hint, and now I gotta finish you,” he hears Hector say, and it’s when he lifts his captive by the collar that Varian finally gets a good view of them. 

And his heart sinks to the pit of his stomach, and a brand new wave of fear and terror come over him. 

“Cassandra…?” he asks to himself, but he doesn’t get a chance to wonder why or how she’s here. A new voice interrupts his train of thought. 

“Let her go, Hector,” and Varian’s never seen this woman before. He doesn’t have time to give her too much thought, though, because Hector tosses Cassandra aside in a way that makes Varian’s heart seize. He’d known Hector was strong, but he threw her away as though she were nothing but a ragdoll, and hard enough to stun her. 

As he watches Hector face the woman, he’s momentarily glad that his attention’s been pulled away from Cassandra. He takes a quick look around, and it doesn’t take him long at all to spot the others. Rapunzel, Eugene, Lance, even Shorty and Hookfoot - they’re all there. 

And Varian realizes in a flash of horror that they were the caravan that Hector drove off the cliff. A sick sort of feeling squirms in his gut as he realizes they all could have died then. 

They all could die now. He knows what Hector is capable of. 

Just as Hector slashes through a thick limb, separating his fight from the rest, Varian decidedly leaves his hiding spot and rushes to Cassandra. Doing this also puts him in the line of sight of the others, and he tries to ignore the anxiety that suddenly comes over him. Despite having been away from Corona for so long, there are still a lot of mixed emotions about what had happened during the snowstorm. 

“Wait - Varian?” Rapunzel asks, and the confusion is clear in her voice. He twists to look over his shoulder at her as he tries to shake Cassandra awake. “Varian - what are you doing here? Have you been here - with him - the whole time?” 

“It - I don’t think we have time to talk about that right now, Princess,” he replies, turning away from her. He can hear Adira and Hector fighting and arguing beyond the makeshift barrier, and his own confusion starts to rise again. 

“Talk about wasting lives,” Adira says over the clash of blades, “you and the Brothers spent yours hiding something no one was even looking for.” 

“The Moonstone has the power to destroy the world,” Hector says, and Varian’s brow furrows. There’s only mild relief when Cassandra opens her eyes. 

“Keeping its existence secret was the King’s wish, and to do anything otherwise is treason,” Hector continues. Varian had known he took his oath to the King seriously, but if what Adira had said was true, then this seems like too much. 

“Varian…?” Cassandra asks, sitting herself up, and he allows himself one small sigh of relief. 

“It’s a long story,” he tells her quickly and helps her to her feet, moving back toward the rest of the group. “One we really don’t have time for right now.” 

And he no sooner says that, and the fight on the other side of the barrier seems to go quiet. He swallows hard, watching the bearcats finally leave their places and make their way down to the ground. Hector comes up and over the fallen bit of tree, and the determination he’d had just moments ago falters. 

“What are you doing here?” he snaps at Varian. “I told you to stay behind. You can’t handle this.” 

“Just listen to me - ” Varian starts, but Hector reaches for him, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. He lifts him easily and sneers at him. 

“Stay out of this, and out of my way,” Hector all but growls at him before shoving him out of the way. He brandishes his blade again, approaching Rapunzel. 

“And now, for the so-called Sundrop.” 

“Leave her alone,” Cassandra interrupts, and Varian manages to steady himself on his feet just in time to see her taking a stance against Hector instead. There’s the smallest bit of hope in him that maybe Cassandra can hold her ground against Hector. She’s a good fighter, he knows that. 

But not good enough, apparently. 

Hector knocks her sword out of her hand and her to the ground with minimal effort. As she crawls toward her sword, Hector stops her, a boot on one hand, driving it into the dirt. 

“Tell me, Lady in Waiting. What are you waiting for?” he taunts. 

That sense of dread rises in Varian again, and he knows this isn’t going to end well. And while he wants to keep Rapunzel and the others safe from Hector, there’s a part of him that also really doesn’t want Hector to get hurt, either. It’s possible, maybe, that he can break this apart before things get much worse. 

And it’s that thought that drives him to act on impulse, to rush forward toward the two of them just as Cassandra throws a handful of sand in Hector’s face. Even as Cassandra is rushing him toward the ledge, Varian moves forward, and he gets there just as Hector goes over. 

It’s blind adrenaline and survival instinct that makes Hector grab for him, and before he can even think twice about what’s happening, he’s freefalling with Hector down into the heart of the tree. There’s a fleeting moment where he thinks that Hector’s going to die, but it’s quickly replaced with his own sense of mortality. He’s also falling, and there can be nothing good waiting for them at the bottom of it all. 

Except somehow, during the fall, Hector manages to pull him closer, using his own body to take the brunt of the impact when they meet the ground. Varian’s left winded and a dizzy from it, and for a moment he doesn’t want to move, afraid to find a mangled corpse beneath him. 

But to his surprise and amazement, Hector is fine. Perhaps also a little winded, but the fall doesn’t seem to have done him any damage, and he shoves Varian off of him as though nothing happened. 

“You stupid child,” he hisses, standing himself up. “I told you to stay out of this.” 

“I can’t let you hurt them,” Varian says, surprising himself with his own tone and words. He stands, legs shaking as he stares Hector down. 

“What do you care?” Hector snorted, standing himself up and brushing himself off. 

“They’re… ” Varian bites at his bottom lip, trying to find the right words. It’s hard to tell where they all stand, given the way things had played out the last time he’d seen Rapunzel and the others. He’d had time to think about that situation, and he understood that she had just been doing what she thought was best at that moment, but some part of him still ached and hurt and resented her. All of them, really. Not only had no one come to help when he absolutely needed it, but no one had come to check on him after the storm had passed, either. 

But that didn’t mean they deserved to be hurt or killed. Right? 

“They don’t mean any harm,” Varian tried to reason, swallowing hard. “There’s this whole thing with the black rocks and Rapunzel, and I’m sure it’d be fine if you just let them go - ”

“I can’t do that,” Hector says simply, and shoves his way past Varian, toward the center of the chamber they’ve fallen into. 

Varian’s brow furrows, and for a moment his argument is forgotten as he looks at what’s caught Hector’s attention. He doesn’t need to ask what it is before Hector’s already saying,

“The Heart of Zhan Tiri’s tree.” He sheaths his blade, and approaches the speared and wilted, tangled mass. “Forgive me, for unleashing the evil that sleeps within.” 

Varian doesn’t ask, he doesn’t give himself time to even think about it. Given what Hector just said, he knows whatever is about to happen can’t be good. He rushes forward, tugs Hector back by one arm, and then does his best to get in between him and the spear. 

“Stop!” Varian says. “You don’t need to do whatever it is this will do.” 

“How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of this fight?” Hector snaps, and Varian manages to dodge his attempt at shoving him aside. 

“Why won’t you just listen to me?” Varian snaps back, and though he had just been ready to argue that Hector didn’t need to use this spear in his fight against Rapunzel and her group, he finds his own hands suddenly grabbing the shaft of it. It’s reckless and foolish, but maybe it’s what he needs to get Hector to listen to him. 

He tugs the spear free of its place in the heart of the tree, and for just a brief moment he points it at Hector. 

“No!” Hector gasps, and if he were about to make any move to try and knock the spear from Varian’s hands, it never comes. The heart of the tree comes alive behind Varian, glowing a sickly green. Roots reach for him, and Hector can only fight off so many before the glowing tendrils have wrapped themselves tightly around Varian. He does his best to break free, managing to stab at least one or two of the tendrils before more come for him. Once he’s held fast, all he can do is scream briefly before his eyes become completely white, glowing. He goes limp just as the tendrils lift him up and away from Hector, back toward the group above. 

As he’s raised up, his mind is numbed with thoughts that aren’t his own, and some that are. The tree holds him tightly, but the magic gets in under his skin and finds all of that anger and all of that hatred he’s tried to ward off. The magic finds it, and drives itself in deep and feeds from it. 

When he’s reached the platform the others are on and the tendrils pull away to reveal the marionette they’ve made of him, he tries to speak but he can only scream. 

And then, “all those who enter the Great Tree of Zhan Tiri shall be destroyed.” 

And the roots have risen up and then come down quickly, with every intention to crush the group before him. They scatter, thankfully, but the tree and the evil do not relent. No matter how much he tries to push back against it, he can’t seem to make it budge, and all he can do is watch as the tree attacks Rapunzel and the others. They do well enough, he supposes, dodging and hacking away at the tendrils as they come at them, but they’re only human.

They can only keep this up for so long, and he knows - he knows the tree can withstand that test of time. He doesn’t want to think about what could happen if they don’t somehow overcome this. 

And maybe it’s because he’s lost in thought, but he doesn’t realize that Adira’s coming right for him until it’s just a little too late. The tree reacts and he shields himself, dropping the spear in the process. It drives itself point first into one of the roots, withering the area around it. Varian notices this, and so does Cassandra. 

But the tree is more intently focused on Adira now, and it comes for her with a bundle of tendrils, woven tightly together and into a point. Before they can meet their mark, Rapunzel steps in front of the other woman, and her hair meets the tree, wrapping around it and tethering it down. 

Victory is short-lived, however, and it doesn’t take long at all for more roots to raise up and overcome the party. Most are completely entrapped within snares of ruined tree, but somehow Rapunzel remains free. She steps forward again, and there’s a moment’s hesitation before she starts to wrap her hair around the base of the structure holding Varian up. By now, even if he has no control over himself, sweat has formed on his brow and tears have started to glide down his cheeks.

And then something new is happening. Rapunzel’s saying something, and her hair is turning black, and he can feel the tree writhing all around him in pain and fear. And then suddenly he feels it too - something dark and heavy seeping into him. 

All around him, the tree is dying. 

He is dying. 

There’s a commotion below that catches his attention, and he sees Cassandra reaching for Rapunzel. He sees her hand on her arm, and he sees her glove dissolve, and then her flesh itself seems to wither and shrink right down to the bones of her hand. It’s enough of a shock to make Rapunzel let go, to break whatever spell she had been casting and he’s momentarily so thankful for that.

But the evil in the tree is gone, and the roots holding him up have died. It’s a strange sensation to come completely back to his senses only to realize that there’s a very good chance he just might die anyway. 

“Rapunzel!” Varian manages to scream, just as the roots give way completely. The fall only lasts for a few seconds before it stops, and he realizes that he’s been caught in her hair, and despite everything she’s pulling him back up to safety. Once he’s been reeled back in and untangled from her hair, he barely has time to catch his breath or clear his mind before he realizes the tree is crumbling all around them. 

“Stay on the path,” Adira says to Rapunzel. “All our destinies lie within you.” Varian doesn’t quite know what that means, but he watches as the woman runs toward the edge he and Hector had gone over before, and then leaps off of it. He realizes she must be going for Hector, and a small part of him is grateful to this stranger. 

But they need to move and fast because the tree is coming down quickly. He gets to his feet and rushes alongside Rapunzel and Cassandra, taking a shaky and clumsy running jump with them. His landing is less than graceful but he doesn’t care, at least he’s alive. 

The tree groans and quakes before it finally gives way entirely. It collapses in on itself, and both Varian and Rapunzel seem to have the right idea in scrambling to the edge and searching for Adira and Hector. The dust clears, and sure enough there they are, standing more or less unscathed within the wreckage. 

Varian and Rapunzel both breathe a sigh of relief, and watch as the two of them walk out of the ruins together, bearcats in tow. It takes a moment before they finally look at each other, and Varian finally reaches up to wipe tears and grime from his face. 

“I - definitely didn’t mean for that to happen,” he says, speaking quietly and quickly. “But Hector was going for the spear, and I knew if he got his hands on it then it would have --- ”

His apology and explanation are cut short, because suddenly Rapunzel has her arms around him and she’s hugging him tighter than he’s ever been hugged before. 

“It’s okay,” she says quickly, and he tentatively hugs her back. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

A hiss from Cassandra nearby earns a glance from both of them, and then they break apart and quickly go over to her. 

“Cassie -- I’m so sorry,” Varian says quickly. She doesn’t spare him a second look as she cradles her injured hand to her chest. 

“It’s not your fault,” she mumbles through clenched teeth. 

“But - your hand,” Rapunzel says, and Varian can hear the guilt in her voice. 

“I’m fine,” Cassandra insists. She’s still not looking at either of them. 

“Are you sure?” Rapunzel presses on, leaning in toward Cassandra. “You’re hurt…”

“I said I’m fine!” Cassandra snaps, and when she looks at Rapunzel there’s something in her eyes Varian doesn’t quite feel right about. Reluctantly, Rapunzel gets up and leaves her for the moment, and Varian follows suit. Maybe she just needs a moment to collect herself, they had all just been through a lot. 

“So, what now?” Varian asks quietly, rubbing at the back of his neck. 

Everyone is quiet for a long moment, giving Rapunzel the time she needs to make this decision. It’s ultimately up to her what the group does, and what Varian does from here on out. He could have gone after Hector and Adira, but something about that didn’t feel quite right - and now he really did have nowhere to go back to, unless he went back to Corona. 

Cassandra steps into view again, wearing a suit of armor that had been discarded when the tree collapsed. She tosses Rapunzel a satchel and tells her it’s her call to make. 

“There’s no turning back,” Rapunzel says after she’s given it some thought. “I am going to the Dark Kingdom.” 

“And I guess you’re along for the rest of the ride now, too,” Eugene says, reaching over to ruffle Varian’s hair. 

“I am?” Varian asks, grateful but also surprised. 

“We’re not just gonna let you go running back to Rhino Man - he doesn’t even have a tree anymore,” Eugene explains with a little grin. “If we left you to your own devices, who knows what sorta other shenanigans you’d get yourself into, huh?” 

He’s teasing, of course he is, but Varian’s smile is weak at best in turn. That doesn’t stop Eugene from slinging an arm around his shoulders and giving him a little, reassuring squeeze. 

“C’mon. We got a long walk ahead of us, and we’ve all got some catching up to do.”


End file.
